AAAA

Engineering and maintenance is where almost all the problem in a factory is blamed to. Whether it is on machines, quality of utilities and sometimes basic structural, we are the personnel to call. I had to deal with almost all the people in the factory and hear a lot of complaints, even in times when things are going smoothly. How I got through it? <>

Years ago, as I looked for leadership articles, I then bumped into an article which says “4 A’s on how to handle complaints smartly”. The title is too tempting for me not to read them so I took note of it. I wrote them in my notebook so I would not forget them and also wrote them in a post-it note which I pinned at the cork board in front of my desk. I kept on reading them and I have no idea of what the outcome will be should I use them. Reading it from first to last A, it seems that it will work but I still have doubt on it and so are my personnel as they thought that those words are not fair for our team.

I practiced few words for me to use just in case there will be complaints. And when that time came, looking at the note I have, I followed them as written from the first A to the fourth. It was never easy then but I am very proud that I followed them and made a positive result out of it.

As I have practiced those 4 A’s, whenever and wherever people tells me complaint, I now know that there is no need to flinch because I already have it and have been using it for years now. I sometimes forgot those words in order and the words themselves, but I know that I can handle them smartly now even without the note I had.

The 4 A’s are as follows: (1) Agree with the complaint (2) Apologize (3) Act to remedy the problem (4) Appreciate being given the complaint. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the author’s name and cannot find it now. Thanks to him anyway.